U.S. stocks were on a downward spiral toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite plummeting around 1.5% on Wednesday.
The Dow staggered down 0.21% to 38,384.83 while the NASDAQ tumbled 1.53% to 15,272.34. The S&P 500 also took a hit, dropping 1.02% to 4,874.63.
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Real estate shares managed to find their footing, rising by 0.7% on Wednesday.
In contrast, communication services shares stumbled, falling by 3.3% in trading on Wednesday.
Top Headline
The Federal Reserve opted to maintain interest rates between 5.25% and 5.5% on Wednesday during its first meeting of 2024, keeping in line with market expectations.
Equities Trading UP
Ashland Inc. ASH saw its shares soar up 17% to $94.34 after the company reported mixed first-quarter financial results and issued guidance.
Shares of Minim, Inc. MINM surged 65% to $4.18 as David E. Lazar disclosed a 51% active stake in Minim Inc.
Powell Industries, Inc. POWL also saw a rise, gaining 48% to $120.92 after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and raised its quarterly dividend.
Equities Trading DOWN
Nuvve Holding Corp. NVVE experienced a 59% drop to $1.37. Nuvve announced pricing of $9.6 million underwritten public offering of 4.8 million shares of common stock at $2.00 per share.
Shares of New York Community Bancorp, Inc. NYCB dwindled by 36% to $6.59 after the company reported worse-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results and reduced its quarterly dividend.
Genprex, Inc. GNPX also took a hit, falling 29% to $0.1902 as Genprex announced a 1-for-40 reverse stock split effective Feb. 2, 2024.
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Commodities
In commodity news, oil took a 2.6% dip to $75.78 while gold made an upward climb of 0.8% to $2,068.10.
Silver decreased by 0.1% to $23.20 on Wednesday while copper also had a downward trend, falling 0.3% to $3.90.
Euro zone
European shares showed a mixing pot today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 experienced a marginal rise of 0.01%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.47% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index saw a gain of 0.38%. The German DAX fell 0.40% and the French CAC 40 fell 0.27%, whereas Italy’s FTSE MIB Index climbed 0.40%.
Spain reported a current account surplus of EUR 2,765 million in November versus a year-ago surplus of EUR 4,122 million, while retail trade rose by 3.1% year-over-year in December. The German jobless rate came in unchanged for a third straight period at 5.8% in January, while German import prices fell 8.5% year-over-year in December.
Producer prices in the French domestic market eased to 0.1% month-over-month in December compared to revised 2.3% increase a month ago, while consumer price inflation slowed to 3.1% year-over-year in January. The Nationwide House Price Index in the UK declined 0.2% year-over-year in January.
Asia Pacific Markets
Asian markets closed with mixed results on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.61%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index falling 1.39% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index dipping 1.48%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, on the other hand, rose 0.86%.
Indian fiscal deficit narrowed to INR 9.82 trillion in April-December compared to INR 9.93 trillion in the year-ago period. Hong Kong’s economy grew by 4.3% year-over-year in the fourth quarter versus 4.1% growth in the earlier period.
Japan’s housing starts sustained a 4.0% decline year-over-year in December, while the consumer confidence index in Japan rose to 38 in January from 37.2 in the prior month. The official NBS non-manufacturing PMI for China rose to 50.7 in January from 50.4 in the previous month, while the manufacturing PMI rose to 49.2 in January from December’s 6-month low level of 49.0.
Economics
Private businesses in the U.S. added 107,000 workers in January, compared to a revised 158,000 gain in December and versus market estimates of 145,000.
Compensation costs for civilian workers in the U.S. rose by 0.9% during the final quarter of 2023, compared to a 1.1% increase in the prior three-month period.
U.S. crude inventories increased by 1.234 million barrels last week, in contrast to market expectations for a decline of 0.217 million barrels.
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